Mushroom Gravy 🍄🟫😋 A rich, hearty, and very flavorful gravy recipe to perfectly complement your favorite dishes and holiday recipes! Made with mushrooms, onions, and butter for maximum comfort food flavor! An EASY gravy recipe that will impress everyone at your next Thanksgiving, Christmas, or special family gathering!
Easy Mushroom Gravy Recipe
- Gravy can turn an ordinary meal into something extraordinary. But when we’re talking about mushroom gravy, it levels things up even more.
- This easy mushroom gravy recipe is made with fresh mushrooms, fresh thyme and rosemary, onions, butter, and savory beef broth to create maximum flavor in every spoonful!
- No fancy chef skills or roasted meat drippings needed here – just straightforward ingredients and basic steps to create an easy and foolproof sauce that will make your meals even better.
- Love the looks of the pork recipe shown with this succulent gravy with mushrooms? That’s my Glazed Pork Loin Roast recipe. Also shown are my Classic Mashed Potatoes and Orange Glazed Brussels Sprouts.
Ingredients in Mushroom Gravy
- Unsalted butter, yellow onion, and garlic: These create the rich, savory base for this easy homemade gravy. For a vegan version, use plant-based butter.
- Fresh mushrooms: White button, cremini, or baby bella mushrooms all work well. Shiitake mushrooms add more umami flavor, while wild mushrooms like chanterelles, morels, or porcini add an earthy richness. Use your favorite variety or mix and match!
- Soy sauce, fresh thyme, rosemary, salt, and black pepper: These add depth and savory flavor. Fresh herbs are best, especially for holiday meals, but dried herbs work too. Simply reduce the amount by half. For a soy-free version, substitute coconut aminos. A splash of white wine, cooking sherry, lemon juice, or balsamic vinegar can also add extra flavor.
- All-purpose flour: Flour thickens the gravy and gives it a smooth consistency. I prefer flour over cornstarch because it gives more reliable results. A gluten-free all-purpose flour substitute may work if needed.
- Beef broth: I recommend reduced sodium beef broth so you can control the salt level. Vegetable broth works for a vegetarian version, or use vegan vegetable broth along with plant-based butter to make vegan gravy.
- Optional additions: Add heavy cream or half-and-half for a creamier gravy, bacon and its drippings for extra richness, or red pepper flakes or cayenne for a little heat.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Mushroom Gravy
This is one of those impressive yet simple to make recipes which I love! It will be ready in about 35 minutes from start to finish and most of that time is spent simmering.
Here are the steps to making this luscious mushroom onion gravy:
- Melt the butter in a large skillet and sauté the onions over medium-high heat.
- Add the mushrooms and cook until soft, then add the garlic, soy sauce, and herbs.
- Sprinkle the flour over the mushroom mixture and cook while stirring for 1 minute.
- Pour in the broth and simmer the gravy for 15 – 20 minutes until thickened.
- Season with salt, pepper, and additional herbs if desired before serving.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for step-by-step photos and process shots of the cooking process.
What to Serve with Mushroom Gravy
Mushroom Gravy
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
- 16 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced (white button, cremini/brown button, baby portobello)*
- 2 garlic cloves, finely minced
- 1 tablespoon reduced sodium, lite soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme may be substituted
- 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary may be substituted
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 3 cups reduced sodium beef broth
- ¾ teaspoon salt, or to taste – plus more if desired
- ¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste – plus more if desired
Instructions
- To a large, high-sided saute pan or skillet, add the butter, and heat over medium-high heat to melt.
- Add the onions, and saute for about 3 minutes, or until beginning to soften and they're fragrant.
- Add the sliced mushrooms, and saute for about 8 to 10 minutes, or until softened, stir very frequently.
- Add the garlic, soy sauce, herbs, and cook for 1 minute; stir constantly so you don't burn the garlic.
- Evenly sprinkle the flour over the top, stir to toss and coat with the mushrooms, and cook for 1 minute. Tips – In essence, you are making a roux in this step, which means you are using butter + flour to create a thickening agent, and as the gravy simmers in the next step, the roux will help it to thicken, so it's very important not to shortcut this step. Also, don't shortcut it because you don't want to add the broth until the flour cooks a bit, otherwise you'll have the terrible taste of raw flour in your finished gravy.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low or low, add the broth slowly, and whisk constantly while you're adding it. Tip – This prevents the finished gravy from being lumpy so make sure to whisk.
- Allow the gravy to simmer uncovered for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until desired consistency has been achieved. Tips – Make sure to stir or whisk very frequently as the gravy simmers to make sure it's cooking evenly, and nothing is sticking at the bottom of the skillet. It's helpful to sometimes run a rubber-tipped spatula around the base of the pan, like you're scraping a bowl, to ensure you've gotten everything.
- Taste the gravy and add the salt, pepper, stir to combine, and add additional S & P to taste, if desired. Or perhaps extra herbs or spices, as desired, before serving over or alongside your favorite entrees or sides – see blog post for tons of recipe ideas!
- Extra gravy will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Reheat leftover gravy (from room temp if possible) gently over a small saucepan or in the microwave.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Recipe FAQs
Gently wipe away any dirt with a damp cloth. I sometimes quickly dip them in running water from my kitchen faucet. I know experts say this isn’t ideal but sometimes you get a really dirty batch of mushrooms and frankly I would rather give a quick dunk under fresh water than eat dirt!
It’s important not to soak the mushrooms in water because they are like sponges and they’ll quickly become waterlogged.
The mushroom flavor is actually not too overpowering in the sauce. However, from a texture and visual perspective, nice big slices of mushrooms can create the illusion of thinking there’s more robust mushroom flavor (than there actually is).
When making gravy, one of the most important kitchen tools is a whisk. Without whisking, you run the risk of lumpy gravy.
Yes you can! If you’re cooking chicken or turkey, you can replace the same amount of the drippings – meaning the fat, juices, and the browned bits at the bottom of the pan – for the butter.
If you have 4 tablespoons drippings, use 4 tbsp drippings in place of the 4 tbsp butter. If you have only 3 tablespoons drippings, then you will need to add 1 tbsp butter so that you have 4 tablespoons total of fat (drippings OR butter).
Yes, you can make mushroom gravy in advance. Store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days. Reheat it gently on the stovetop or in the microwave when needed.
However, if you are making this for a special holiday meal like Thanksgiving or Christmas, I would make it the day before, max, and not try to stretch it up to 3 days.
If your gravy is too thin, you can thicken it by creating a slurry with equal parts water and flour and then whisking it into the simmering gravy. Alternatively, let it simmer uncovered for a bit longer to reduce and thicken naturally.
If your gravy becomes overly thick, you can thin it out by gradually adding more broth, water, or even a bit of wine (a few tablespoons) while stirring until you reach your desired consistency.
More Easy Gravy Recipes:
Turkey Gravy From Drippings – This is the most classic gravy that you can make, and if you’ve made a whole bird, this is the logical choice, especially if you’re serving it for the holidays.
Slow Cooker Turkey Breast + Gravy – Not roasting a whole bird? If you have some pan drippings from a turkey breast instead, this is an easy gravy to make, and doesn’t make a ton.
Beef Tips + Gravy – This recipe does use the premise that you’ve made beef tips, and have pan drippings to use (and it also uses mushrooms in the gravy but you can omit them if you’d like) and the recipe produces lots of savory gravy.
Biscuit and Sausage Gravy Pots — Individual ramekins are filled with homemade sausage gravy and topped with homemade flaky cheese and herb biscuits before being baked and served piping hot!
This is by far the easiest and tastiest gravy I have ever made. After tasting my husband looked at me and said wow. I will gladly slather this on everything.
I served this with pork sausage links and mashed potatoes.
10 stars
This is by far the easiest and tastiest gravy I have ever made. After tasting my husband looked at me and said wow. I will gladly slather this on everything.
I served this with pork sausage links and mashed potatoes.
10 stars
Thanks for the 5 star review and I am glad this was the easiest and tastiest gravy you’ve ever made! That’s very high praise! And husband-approved too!
Thanks for making this the literal day I posted it, too! Always nice for me to have immediate feedback!